Chip

Playwrights sculpt language. Their linguistic craftsmanship, which will be on ample display this summer during the 30th annual Baltimore Playwrights Festival, is certainly present in Marilyn Millstone's "The Sculptress," right now at Fells Point Corner Theatre. Millstone's biographical play concerns Camille Claudel, the French sculptor who served as the muse for her much older lover, the 19th-century sculptor Auguste Rodin. Her career was overshadowed by his, and she never psychologically recovered from the end of their love affair.

Oh, the mediocre have fallen. The Orioles, who a month ago were staying somewhat relevant and hanging around in the AL East, now have the second-worst record in the American League and are a dozen games behind the Red Sox in the wild-card standings. So now besides next week’s All-Star Game, where Orioles catcher Matt Wieters will get his moment in the spotlight, the next important date on the calendar is July 31. That’s Major League Baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline, and the Orioles’ latest midseason swoon has removed any doubt about whether they will be sellers four weeks from now. That’s probably a good thing for management because if the Orioles were still in contention, fans would be clamoring for the team to be buyers at the deadline, which would have been foolish during a half-completed roster reconstruction.

The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau won't assume its powers until July, but efforts are under way to weaken the federal agency before it gets off the ground. Republicans recently introduced several bills that would tamper with the bureau's funding, make it easier for its regulations to be overturned and even delay its launch. Three of them are expected to be taken up by the House Financial Services Committee this week. And last week, 44 Republican Senators sent a letter to President Barack Obama saying they won't approve anyone he nominates to lead the agency unless it's restructured in a way that would reduce its power and independence.

The words "beer food" bring to mind items like pretzels, peanuts and pizza. But at Red Brick Station in White Marsh the term means mussels steamed in ale, fish dipped in a beery batter and meat marinated in stout. Here, the beer is often in the food. It works, in part because the beer is fresh. There is a brewery on the premises, between the bar and the dining room. It also works because the kitchen has a nice touch with spices. The concept here is to serve English-style ales and English pub fare.

Pringles — the little crisps that could — were sold this week by Procter & Gamble to Diamond Foods for a whopping $2.35 billion. Talk about a success story. When Pringles arrived on the snacking scene some 50 years ago, they were scorned. Pringles aspired to be called potato chips, but they did not have the right stuff to garner that title. Instead, because of their makeup — 42 per cent potato content — they had to settle for the lesser label "potato crisps. " In their early years, these crisps, made of dehydrated potato flakes that have been rolled and fried, tasted like cardboard.

Scientists in Pittsburgh can make footballs talk. Priya Narasimhan, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and her team of 10 engineering students have developed a "smart football" with a GPS unit and accelerometer, both contained in a half-ounce microchip inside the ball. The chip can measure the speed, spin, trajectory and — even when it's buried under a pile of players — the precise location of the ball. The NFL is looking into the technology as a way to make officiating and game timing even more accurate.

In signing Derrek Lee to a one-year, $7.25 million deal, the Orioles picked up a well-respected veteran first baseman who expects to lead the young club by example. They also acquired a guy who, frankly, says he's got something to prove. "I do, I have a little chip on my shoulder, man. I have been hearing a lot of people saying I am old, declining, and so I want to prove that theory wrong," said Lee, 35, during an introductory teleconference with the Baltimore media Thursday.

A smallish Lutherville strip mall is the setting for Sabor , a casual fine-dining restaurant with a Puerto Rican influence brought by chef-owner Rudolfo Domacasse who's worked in several notable Baltimore-area kitchens. We loved dinners there but had never tried the lunch menu. We were pressed for time but were in the neighborhood and decided to risk a slow-food experience. 11:59 a.m. We arrive and within five minutes we had drinks and a pretty good idea what we'd order.

While the volume of phone calls that Orioles officials have been getting has increased in recent days, president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said Friday that the likelihood of him making another deal before today's 4 p.m. deadline is not high. "We've had a lot of conversations," MacPhail said. "I have no idea where they are going or if anything will come from them. It's not like the phone is dead, but I wouldn't see anything that I characterize as likely at this point."